Shedding the Disguise
by Beedok
Summary: Aoko realised (with a little help from Akako) that she prefers girls. Kaito wanted to spy on her, but made his disguise a little too cute. Now he's ended up Aoko's date. But... acting as Aoko's girlfriend feels so natural for Kaito.
1. Chapter 1

**Part One: Transformation**

Aoko and Akako were both stuck on cleaning duty, after the other students had left. Aoko was hard at work sweeping as Akako did the bare minimum, tired of this servant work. She also had a new love potion in her mind, one that might just work on Kaito, stealing him from the other girl. The genius of the scheme left her giggling to herself.

"What's so funny?" Aoko asked, having been closer than Akako had realized.

The red magic wielder gave her rival a wicked grin. "I do believe that I've worked out a way to win Kaito's affection. What do you say to that?"

"Is it your skincare routine?" Aoko asked, leaning in a little too close to Akako's face. "Your skin always looks so radiant. Honestly, Aoko doesn't know why Kaito isn't dating you when you're just so pretty. If Aoko were him, she would definitely say yes."

Akako blinked. She'd seen how the other girl looked at her from time to time, but _this. _This was a new level...

"You'd date me in his shoes?" Akako asked, her mind grabbing onto a new possible path to victory. If she could eliminate the competition without doing anything shady...

"Oh, definitely. You're so pretty. Boys are lucky, because they get to marry cute girls like you. I know I'm supposed to grow out of my Class S phase and all that, but... Aoko just doesn't find boys cute."

"Nakamori, is it possible you're just a lesbian?" Akako offered. Why hadn't she realised this before?

"A-an actual lesbian?" Aoko stuttered, blushing furiously. "I... I don't know. I don't think... I mean, you know if you're one, don't you? Aoko just isn't that interesting."

Akako placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder. The temptation to laugh maniacally was getting stronger, but she managed to subdue it. Barely. "My dear friend, you need to investigate it. Just as your father has to follow all leads in his work, figuring yourself out is much the same."

Aoko's eyes began to sparkle with wonder. "I... Oh my. At the very least, I might get to meet all sorts of cute girls."

"That's the spirit!" Akako replied. It was too easy. Kaito was hers now.

* * *

Kaitou Kid scrambled up the edge of the building, hoping that the pale tile would mask his white outfit well enough. The great detective was _supposed_ to be on vacation in Okinawa... tonight was really going sideways. He really shouldn't have left so much prep work for the last minute, forcing himself to run on 3 hours of sleep.

Panting, Kid dragged himself over the edge of the building to lie flat as a helicopter flew past. He just had to get inside. Then he could put a disguise on.

"Took you long enough, Kaito," a haughty female voice announced.

Turning, Kid realized it was Akako, in one of her eccentric sorceress outfits. He swallowed the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm a little busy right now, mademoiselle. Can this wait until another night?"

"I've just got a little news to give you, and you can be an annoying person to get ahold of, Kaito."

"It's pronounced 'Kaitou'. And most people call me Kid... Anyway, what is it?" Kaito asked, getting back to his feet as the helicopter flew away.

"Aoko's come to a little realization about herself that removes her as competition. So, why not accept my affection now?"

"Ah, Detective Nakamori's girl? What did she realise that somehow affects a phantom thief such as myself?"

Akako sighed. Kid could tell she was getting annoyed with the secret identity routine. It was always a good way to annoy her. "She's a lesbian. She's going to go to a lesbian cafe I gave her the address to tomorrow."

In the blink of an eye, Kaito Kid closed the gap between them. "When and where? I've got to see this... um, to study how this might change her behaviour. A detective's daughter can be a useful disguise after all."

"Shinjuku Ni-Chome, a place called the _Strawberry Leaf_ Cafe," Akako replied. "I don't have a when. I'm not really that invested in what she does. I just wish her the best of luck."

"Good enough. My thanks, mademoiselle," Kid replied, leaning into a bow as he dropped a number of smoke bombs.

He made it inside before a sudden (and probably supernatural) gust of wind blew the smoke away. Scrambling down the stairs he quickly changed into his prepared disguise: ironically, a disguise as Aoko. Well, tomorrow was likely to be interesting. What sort of girl would Aoko go for? He struggled to ignore the panicked feeling of jealousy in his gut. Aoko was her own person, and it wasn't like he had a crush on that girl with the curves of a barrel...

Kaito realized he was passing a large mirror in the lobby, and slowed down a bit. While it was only a disguise, and not the real girl... the Aoko in the mirror was cute. And he had to admit there was some real panic in his gut at the thought of losing her.

"Oh man, I think I'm overdoing it with the chest," Kaito grumbled as he tried to take his mind off the emotional mess in his heart. "She's way flatter than that."

* * *

The _Strawberry Leaf_ sat in the middle of a block nearer to the edge of Ni-Chome. In fact, Kaito wasn't certain if this was _technically_ still Ni-Chome or not. The tree-lined street was only a block from the Shinjuku Gyoen park, and rent had to be ridiculous.

Kaito swallowed nervously. Sure, this disguise was immaculate... in fact, Kaito was really proud of it. He rarely created new faces for disguises, so had gone for a mixture between his mother's high school yearbook pictures and one idol whose fashion sense he took so much inspiration for with his feminine disguises (her complexion matched his well, and had been so useful for figuring out stage makeup when he was younger).

This didn't change the fact that he was on a personal mission though. Maintaining his _poker face_ would be a difficult challenge.

Crossing the threshold, Kaito was thrilled to see the cafe went for a darker and more intimate lighting style. That should make blending in easier. Kaito went up to the counter, about to order, when he froze. He realized he hadn't worked out a voice... the quickest and easiest option was just pitching his own voice up, and that's what he went for as he ordered a very strong coffee. (He hadn't slept the night before while preparing the disguise... and had three hours of sleep in the last 48 to draw on.)

Receiving his order, he slunk off to a corner and began to wait. Surely Aoko would be along shortly...

* * *

An hour and a half later, Kaito was on the third coffee, this time with a cute little raspberry cheesecake. The decoration was so adorable he was struggling to work up the courage to dig in and ruin it. The chiming of the entrance bell gave him a moment's distraction, and he checked who was entering.

The answer felt like a blow to the gut. It was Sera Masumi. Kaito dropped his eyes back to the cheesecake. There's no way she would know it was him, but... that martial artist girl spooked him. And might seriously have plans to break a limb or two if she caught him. His face had hurt for a week after she kicked him last on their first meeting.

Sipping nervously, he glanced at the counter, where she was chatting happily with the girl behind the counter.

Did they just point at him!? Maybe it was better to make a break for it. She was coming his way now. Kaito quickly hunted for an escape route with his eyes, but none presented itself.

"Hey there," Sera said. "Name's Masumi. Sera Masumi. I'm kind of friends with Kaori over at the counter. She said you're new here and you've been lurking in the corner for a couple hours now. Looking pretty nervous. First time?"

Kaito blinked in surprise. Of course, that made so much more sense than his disguise somehow failing. "I've been nervous plenty of times."

Masumi chuckled and sat down across from him in the booth. "Classic movie fan, nice. But seriously, if you want to chat a bit, or get some advice on how to make a move, I'm happy to help out a little. I'm no master at the art, but I'm still always happy to help."

Another chime at the door drew Kaito's attention for a moment. It wasn't Aoko.

"I, uh... well, I'm not exactly sure I belong here?" Kaito said, trying to build a logical cover for his awkward behaviour.

"Looking at the sparkle in your eyes with all the girls you look at, I'm pretty sure you do. Even if you like guys too, you can still be here," Masumi replied in a casual tone.

"I don't-er, that's not... um, it's complicated?" Kaito tried.

This was a disaster. It was supposed to just be an observation mission. He wasn't awake enough for cover stories.

"It always seems complicated at first," Masumi replied with a shrug. "By the way, I didn't catch your name?"

"Oh, uh," Kaito paused. He'd not built the disguise very well... all-nighters were risky. It needed to be girly... "Kai—ko. Kaiko."

That was terrible. Waaay too close to his real name. In fact he was pretty sure it was even an actual name anyone had. He tried not to cringe too much. This is why you planned ahead.

"That's a cute name," Masumi replied. "Very unique."

He was pretty sure that look in her eyes revealed that she knew it was a fake name, but what could he do? Maybe that wasn't too weird anyway, considering the setting?

The door chimed again, and _-finally-_ revealed Aoko. She looked at least as nervous as he felt as she walked up to the counter. Kaito couldn't hear what she said, but was pretty sure she stuttered her order.

"Ooh, did we just figure out our type?" Masumi asked, turning towards the counter. The short haired girl blushed a bit. "Oh man, she _is_ cute."

"I suppose," Kaito mumbled, shooting his eyes back to his cheesecake and finally slicing into it with his fork.

"You're an interesting gal, Kaiko," Masumi replied. "Firm on your stance you like girls, but you seem so nervous to act."

"I, uh, have my reasons," Kaito half whispered, glancing up to watch Aoko some more.

He was surprised by the silence from Masumi. Looking her way he saw she was quietly drinking her tea. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, Kaito glancing over at Aoko a few times while finishing off the cheesecake. Finally the waiting seemed to get to Masumi.

"Okay, seriously, if you don't move I'm going to go ask her out for you," the fanged girl grumbled.

"You can't do-" Kaito paled, he'd forgotten to maintain his pitch. His cover was so horribly blown.

"Ooh, so _that's_ it. I wondered with how you came up with your name. Between that, the worry you don't belong, and now the husky voice..."

Kaito swallowed. She was going to hurt him, wasn't she?

"You're trans, aren't you?" Masumi whispered. There was nothing threatening about her tone. "Don't worry, a girl's a girl. I have enough people who think that I'm a guy that I've got respect for what you gals have to deal with."

Kaito was too confused to reply. A lone brain cell processing this curveball of interpretation told him to nod.

"I guess you're worried about being too masculine if you're the initiator? Don't worry! I'll handle it," Masumi declared, walking over to Aoko before Kaito could reply.

Kaito watched in surprise as Masumi hit up a conversation with Aoko. The girl seemed pretty smooth. Then she pointed his way, Aoko's eyes following. Kaito waved awkwardly. To his surprise Aoko blushed before turning over to Masumi.

Kaito felt his heart racing, and stared at his empty coffee. Trying to get his mind off it. What in the world was he doing? He made the _worst_ decisions while running on zero sleep and too much caffeine.

The sound of someone sitting down across the table led Kaito to think Masumi was back.

"So how did it-" Kaito began, freezing as he raised his eyes and saw it was Aoko across from him.

She was looking at him with a type of blush he didn't think she'd ever sent his way (though the whisper of a memory said it had happened once). Suddenly all rational thought was squashed as his heart shouted 'you love her, you idiot, make this work'.

"Hi there, the name's Aoko. Nakamori Aoko. And you?"

"Uh- Kaiko," Kaito replied, thinking desperately for a family name... then the bookshelf caught his eye. The white spine of Kirino Natsuo's _Real World_ jumped out against the darker books around. "Kirino... Kirino Kaiko."

He was completely brain dead, wasn't he? Could you get any lamer than stealing a name off a bookshelf?

"Well, Kirino-san... um, I heard you were knew at this, and Aoko is also new at this, but, um, how would you like to go for a walk in the park? I thought it looked very pretty."

"That sounds nice," Kaito replied, smiling like a bit of an idiot. What in the world was he doing?

* * *

Kaito tried not to panic as Aoko stopped to watch the fish swimming by as they crossed what had to be one of a dozen bridges in the Shinjuku Gyoen garden. They were were small fish, and not the type to jump. Probably. Fish were such tricky and slippery things... but panicking would reveal his identity, and ruin the whole date.

The date that Kaito shouldn't be on, since Aoko wanted a girlfriend and he was only dressing the part. Yet it was going so well, the small talk flowing easily. For whatever reason, his usual instincts to insult Aoko to keep a distance between them just weren't manifesting.

Kaito breathed a sigh of relief as Aoko started moving forward again.

"What do you say we go over to the French garden?" Kaito offered. There were probably fewer fish there.

"Oh, sure," Aoko replied. "I... I hope you don't think this is too forward, Kaiko, but, I was wondering if I could hold your hand as we walked?"

"I can't think of any reason not to?" Kaito replied, his mouth moving before his brain had processed what it was going to say. The truth was that thinking in general was tricky right now, his brain and heart being totally overloaded.

Then, suddenly, it felt so nice, letting Aoko take his hand. His internal chaos calmed with her touch. Setting off towards the manicured French style corner of the garden, Kaito decided to try nudging the conversation a little deeper.

"So, you're a third year too, right?"

"Yep. So much studying. The exams are a little terrifying," Aoko replied.

Kaito nodded. He'd seen her and the others stressing out. Being focused on his burglary and magic, Kaito wasn't really too worried about finding a university. Well, that and he found school pretty easy.

"What sort of topic are you hoping to study?" Kaito asked, realizing after saying it that he honestly didn't know the answer. He'd never asked Aoko about her plans for life. He'd just assumed she'd always be around in some nebulous way.

"This is going to sound really dark, but... forensic sciences, especially the medical angle. Since my dad works with the police, even if he's not dealing with murders, I've met a few forensic doctors and their work has always sounded so interesting."

Kaito nodded, seriously surprised that ever his ever-juvenile-seeming friend wanted such a dark and serious career path. "I was expecting you to go for something more cheerful."

"S-sorry about it being so morbid... I just find medicine a good challenge, and want to help catch criminals like my dad," Aoko replied, seeming to shrink into herself a little and her hand slipping out of Kaito's own.

"Oh, no. Don't apologize. It's really cool. Just... it just surprised me," Kaito said, grabbing back ahold of Aoko's hand without thinking about it.

"Oh," Aoko gasped, firmly accepting the handhold. "What about you, Kaiko?"

Kaito's mind skipped a beat. What was the girl he was pretending to be like? Well, the easiest option was to get close to honesty. "I kind of like gemstones. Maybe an appraiser would be nice?"

Aoko pouted a little, muttering 'gems' under her breath.

"Not a fan of gems?" Kaito asked.

The long haired girl blushed a bit. "Sorry. It's just that Aoko's dad is always so focused on catching Kaitou Kid, and so he's always dealing with gems. Sometimes I feel like he cares about the gems more than me."

"I-" Kaito paused. The natural response was to dismiss that as nonsense and point out that her father just tended to really focus on one thing at a time, but then Kaito realized that 'Kaiko' didn't know Inspector Nakamori. "People can get caught up in their work, but that doesn't mean they don't care."

* * *

"This date was really nice," Aoko said, as the pair sat in an ice cream parlour.

"Mhm, I'd never been to the greenhouse before. Didn't even know they had one," Kaito replied while picking at his banana split.

"Oh, I just realized that I haven't gotten your phone number. How are we supposed to meet up next time?"

Kaito nearly choked on his ice cream. What was he going to do? Aoko knew his phone number... "I'm... uh, actually waiting on a replacement. I dropped my old phone, and my parents were planning to change providers anyway, so I don't know what my number is going to be."

"Oh no. Well, Aoko can give you hers, and then you can phone when you get your new phone."

Kaito smiled awkwardly as Aoko gave him the number. At least he wouldn't have to worry about losing the slip of paper as her number was the top of his contacts in his actual phone.

* * *

Kaito waved goodbye as Aoko hurried off to her train. He'd be catching the same line, but wanted to wait a while before heading off.

And there was one other thing to deal with.

"You're pretty good at hiding, but I know you were following me," Kaito said while turning around.

"Heh, sorry," Masumi replied as she stepped out of the nearby alleyway. "I tend to consider myself a bit of an investigator, and I was curious how your date would go, since I helped set it up, so I thought I'd practice my stealth surveillance skills. Guess they still need some work."

"I'm kind of on high alert today, and it still took me a while to notice you, so I think you're pretty good," Kaito replied.

"Pretty good isn't FBI level. Anyhow, seems like it went well."

"A little too well, maybe," Kaito replied, eyes dropping to study the sidewalk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Masumi asked, leaning forward with suspicion.

Kaito leaned back nervously. "I-just... I hoped to have a nice time, but not 'let's have a second date' levels of nice. Since I... well, I've got that little secret I don't know how to deal with."

Of course the actual secret was rather worse than Masumi was aware of, but what she thought the issue was probably covered the issue enough. The way the fanged girl nodded confirmed Kaito's reasoning.

"Yeah, no idea how to handle that one. But Kaiko, if you want to chat, here's my business card," Masumi replied, handing Kaito a small card.

"Very professional of you. I might just take you up on the offer."

* * *

The next day, Kaito severely overslept and barely made it to class on time. His stomach kept grumbling all lunch, since he'd had to rush without breakfast. At least Aoko was smiling all day, and that made him happy. Finally the lunch bell rang and he could crack open the food that he'd originally planned as breakfast before reassessing his time options.

"Kaito! Aoko has so much to tell you!" the brown haired girl announced as she plopped down in the seat in front of him.

"Oh? What about? Did another one of your dad's investigation ideas hit a dead end?" Kaito asked, trying to maintain his usual teasing and hoping to ignore the feelings he'd been accepting yesterday.

"Well... yes. But that's not the thing I want to tell you. I had a date! With a-" Aoko froze, realising this was something for hushed tones and dropped to a whisper. "With a really cute girl. She was so nice to me, and we just clicked so well. It was almost like she was an old friend, we meshed together so well."

Kaito nodded between mouthfuls of food. He needed to feign disinterest, but that last bit nearly made him choke. "Eh, if she was on your wavelength she would probably drive me crazy."

That was, of course, perfectly true. The way that his defences against Aoko had vanished yesterday was confusing him. He knew he always felt a little freer in disguise, but this time it was messing with his actual life. So, 'Kaiko' was already starting to drive him a little crazy.

"I just... I just hope she phones me back soon. She seemed like she wasn't sure about a second date. I guess she could probably do much better than Aoko..."

Kaito was shaken from his thoughts by that, and especially the sad distant expression she was suddenly wearing. Was seeing Aoko looking _that_ heartbroken the cost of backing out of this? Kaito knew he couldn't do that to her. He'd just have to, uh, to... mess up the next date. Yeah. Make Aoko dump him.

It was a flawless plan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Transposition**

It had been a week, and Aoko was getting more and more worried at school. Kaito couldn't it take it anymore. The hope that maybe she'd change her mind if he stalled had failed.

So here Kaito was, buying a prepaid phone to build up this fake identity of Kirino Kaiko. He'd already started drawing up a family tree, and figuring out relationships between these made up Kirinos. Her father was a travelling salesman (that was still a thing, right?), and her mother was a travel journalist. They met somewhere tropical. He was still torn between São Paulo and French Polynesia, but he'd figure that out later.

With the phone purchased, he snuck off towards a deserted park to call Aoko, taking a moment to shift his voice up.

"Hello? Who is this?" Aoko's voice asked. This cheap phone was annoyingly tinny. It didn't do Aoko's voice justice... and when did he start finding Aoko's voice so nice?

"Hey, it's Kaiko. Sorry, mom and dad got arguing about phone plans, so I only just got my phone."

"Oh, Kaiko! It's okay, Aoko expected that it might take a while."

Kaito grimaced. She _expected_ it to take this long? Then what was that moping at school today? Kaito shook his head, not wanting to let any sarcasm into his voice. "I'm glad to hear you weren't worrying. So, since you were the one who brought up the second date first, did you have anything planned?"

* * *

Aoko was just ahead on the busy Shibuya street. Kaito had to struggle against every fabric of his being not to open with a little magic trick. Sighing, he pulled the rose out now and walked over to Aoko.

"Something cute to match you," 'Kaiko' said, walking into Aoko's field of view.

"Oh!" the shorter girl gasped as she took the flower. "You're quite the romantic. I...huh, Aoko has the exact same dress."

Kaito struggled against the urge to grimace. Of course Aoko owned one, Kaito had bought it to disguise as her on heists. It had been so long since Aoko had worn it though that Kaito had been sure she'd thrown it out and wouldn't recognise it. (Honestly, there were more than a few disguise dresses sitting in his closet that were unlikely to get a second use... why did he always struggle to part with them so much?)

Kaito's had extra pockets sewn in, however. The young magician had gotten very good at sneaking pockets into dresses.

"Heh, well, you know what they say. Great minds think alike," Kaito said.

"Maybe we can match at some point."

"Maybe," Kaito offered with a smile. A good 40% of female outfits in the young magician's disguise closet were copies of Aoko's wardrobe, so it wouldn't be hard. "So, were there any specific destinations you wanted to visit, Nakamouri-chan, or will we just see where the flow of the crowds takes us?"

"Aoko has one or two destinations in mind, but was mostly thinking we could browse," the brunette replied with an adorable grin.

* * *

Walking around Shinjuku, browsing at various shops, Kaito was honestly having a wonderful time.

Suddenly, Aoko ran ahead to a store that seemed focused on accessories that all generally followed a severely _kawaii _aesthetic. If the young magician were here as Kaito the response would be grimacing and teasing Aoko about her kiddy fashion sense.

However, Kaito was here as Kaiko, whose fashion sense (due to it being the easiest option with existing clothing supplies) was similarly youthful. Plus, part of why Kaito liked to use Aoko was a disguise so much was because the outfits _were _cute. Even if they could be cavity inducingly so, and too cute for any self respecting boy to show interest in. (A realisation Kaito had learned the hard way in middle school when the other boys in class had mocked him for reading fashion magazines with Aoko and Keiko.)

Suddenly, Aoko turned around, a hair clip in hand. Before the confused magician realized what was happening the clip was in place in Kaito's hair and Aoko was holding up a mirror.

"There we go, that suits Keiko, and helps show Aoko your cute face," she said, smiling away in her innocent and lovely way. "Do you like it?"

Kaito tried not to blush, because the answer was yes. Why the idea of being called cute was getting to Kaito so much, the young magician couldn't say, but it felt nice. "It'd... it'd probably look cuter on you."

"Well, we'll just have to buy matching clips then, won't we?" Aoko replied with an innocent grin.

Kaito's heart skipped a beat. Something about it just seemed so delightfully romantic.

* * *

Kaito had to use every fibre of his willpower once more, this time struggling not to gloat as Aoko rained compliments on 'Kaiko' as she discussed the date after school the next day. Or, maybe it was more a struggle not to grow flustered... both were warring in Kaito's gut.

"She's so easy to compliment too!" Aoko declared as they walked along the river on there way home. "All Aoko has to do is call her pretty and she gets so flustered. How could a girl that beautiful find it such a surprise to be called what she is?"

Kaito had to study the ground, hoping Aoko wouldn't see how much he was blushing. That girl could cut through his poker face like nothing. How was being called 'beautiful' in the third person like this getting to Kaito so much anyhow?

"Maybe she's shy," Kaito mumbled, trying to regain composure.

"Maybe. Aoko just doesn't know what daddy's going to think when she tell him..." Aoko said, sighing a little.

* * *

Kaitou Kid sat on a rooftop, bored out of his mind as it was busy pouring rain. The weatherman on JNN hadn't predicted any rain at all... he was changing networks over this. At least he'd been vague about the time of the heist in his note.

Suddenly his phone began to ring. Only that wasn't Kaito's phone. Or Kid's phone. It was Kaiko's. Pulling out the cheap pink thing, Kaito took a moment to slip into the right mindset.

"Hi there. Ao-chan. What's up?" Kid asked in Kaiko's voice.

"Hi! Have you heard about the big heist downtown?" Aoko asked.

"Who hasn't? It's Kid. The news loves to gab about him," Kid said, beaming away. It was fun to praise yourself.

"Well, Aoko is here at the museum with daddy, and guess who she bumped into?" a very excited Aoko said.

Trying to work from the tone, Kaito was coming up a blank. "A movie star of some sort?"

"No, no. It's Masumi! She was so happy to hear we've had a couple dates now. She's right here, if you want to talk to her?"

"Um," Kid paused a moment. The rain was clearing up now, it was time to go. But Kaito did honestly want to thank Masumi for the help, and apologise for losing her business card... and hey, it made a good show to chat with one of the investigators while flying in. So Kid hopped into action. "Sure, I'd love to."

Kid's paraglider extended while the phone was being passed, and the phantom thief glided silently towards the heist.

"Hey there, Kaiko," Masumi Sera began. "I was worried I might have scared you with the tailing thing. That was probably overstepping a bit... I've just not had many chances to play matchmaker, so I got excited."

"Hah, no. I just, well, I ended up losing your card. Really sorry about that," Kid explained, avoiding a police searchlight. It would be no good to get spotted too soon. (The young magician was still quite embarrassed about losing that card but... that day _had_ been rather unusual.)

"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. You seemed pretty flustered," Sera's voice replied as Kaito swerved past a spotlight.

The roof was only a few metres away, it was almost time for phase two. "What was you number again? I'll write it down."

As Sera replied, Kaito committed the number to memory. The young thief was in heist mode, not date mode, so trusted it would be stored away until needed.

"I," Kaito muttered, before pulling the phone away and switching to a more maternal sounding voice. "Kaichi, sweety, dinner's ready!"

Kaito then brought the phone back, "Uhoh, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later. Tell Aoko I'll talk to her soon."

* * *

Sera handed the phone back to Aoko, giving a brief explanation of why Kaiko had hung up so quick. She also did her best to ignore the name she'd heard Kaiko get called. It was a good thing Aoko hadn't been on the phone with the girl.

"Her parents called her away, sorry," Sera said as she handed the phone back to Aoko.

"Aoko supposes it _is_ close to dinner time," the cute girl replied, looking sadly at her phone.

"And heist time," Sonoko added, giddiness evident in her voice. "I can't wait to see Kid-sama again. I'll never tire of his handsome face."

Aoko rolled her eyes in response. "For whatever reason, Kid loves stealing Aoko's friend Kaito's face to annoy daddy... Who knows what he really looks like."

Sonoko opened her mouth to reply, before crossing her arms and huffing. "I'm certain he's handsome. He's too charming not to be."

"Charming or not, he's not getting through the reinforced glass that the _Silver Memory_ tiara is behind," Inspector Nakamori announced as he strolled casually past the girls. "That glass is as hard as reinforced concrete. No cutting tool could break through fast enough for him to steal the jewel. And no disguise is going to help him get past it either."

"So that's why we haven't had our faces pinched as much as usual," Ran said, half to herself, before turning to the young boy lurking in her shadow. "What do you think his plan is, Conan?"

The bespectacled boy blinked, Sera trying not to laugh at how distracted he'd been looking, standing between Ran and Aoko. Not that she could blame him, she found the pair distractingly cute herself.

"Uh, he might have tampered with the casing ahead of time?" Conan offered. "Or... maybe he's going to do some sort of illusion, to make it look like the tiara has vanished and make us open the case? Uncle Kogoro would probably know better... it's too bad he's sick."

Inspector Nakamori nodded. "You two! Double check the case! And, remember, don't open it, whatever happens!"

"Yes sir!"

The overworked inspector stormed off to yell at some of his other officers, and gradually left earshot, to Masumi's relief.

"Have you told him yet?" the fanged girl half whispered to Aoko.

"Told-Oh! You mean about the girlfriend issue? No... not yet. Aoko was going to, and then the new heist was announced, so daddy's been very busy."

"I hope he's better about it than my dad," Ran said flatly, a comment that got a confused and panicked look from Conan. "He really disapproves of my boyfriend. Parents can be so meddlesome."

The wave of relief that hit Conan was too much for Masumi, and she had to let out a few laughs. The other girls turned to her with confusion (and Conan with murder in his eyes) when the lights went out. Everyone went on alert. The heist was starting.

"_Llllaaaadiieeesss aaaaannnd Geeennnntlleemeeeennnn!_" a voice announced, the smugness unmistakably Kaitou Kid's, however, the pitch seemed off to Masumi's ears. A tile fell from the ceiling and a streak of white descended, though Masumi's eyes were still adjusting to the dark and couldn't make out much more. "I do apologise for the slight delay. I'll be changing weather stations in future. But! _The show must go on_!"

Finally, Masumi realised what was happening with Kid's voice. He was mimicking Ran's... and her eyes adjusting to the darkness showed her he was currently dressed as Ran in Kid's suit as he stood in front of the case that held the _Silver Memory_.

"I can see there's some questions about my appearance," Kid said, a wide grin spreading across his face, so unquestionably Kid, and so wrong to see on Ran's features. (Well, mostly wrong. Masumi had to admit that the image of a cute girl with a cocky grin like that was doing _something_ to her heart.)

"The simple answer is," Kid continued, still perfectly mixing Ran's voice with his showmanship, "I felt like embracing my feminine side today, and, well... Mouri-chan offers a lot of femininity to embrace."

With that, Kid hugged himself, squeezing a quite accurately padded chest. Masumi felt her eye twitch, but, before she could respond, Ran has streaked forward, a fist flying Kid's way. The white clad thief dodged by a hair, and instead the room was filled with the sound of shattering glass.

As Ran turned, preparing to launch another strike, Masumi noticed that the casing contain the crown had been shattered completely. She couldn't say she was surprised, watching the aura of rage flowing off Ran right now.

Ran charged forward with a barrage of punches, all of which Kid dodged, though a few were closer than others. Masumi swore she saw a look of fear on his face in those instances.

"I must admit, Mouri-chan, I'm impressed. You shattered the glass... I was only expecting for you to crack it and make my job a little easier," Kid said, hopping onto the case of another exhibit.

"I'm going to kill you," Ran replied, her voice filled with a cold rage.

As Kid continued to dodge around the room, Inspector Nakamori tried to order his men to tackle kid. The general response was that the men valued their lives too much to risk getting in the way of one of Ran's blows.

"How about I make it up to you?" Kid offered, doing a backflip to get some distance from Ran and landing in a handstand atop a Roman looking bust. "Your boyfriend isn't around much, right?"

Ran responded with a 'kya' as she tried to deliver a roundhouse to Kid's face.

Kid launched himself to safety, disappearing into his cape as he flew through the air, before landing looking the spitting image of Kudo Shinichi, school uniform and all.

"When's the last time I told you you look stunning, Ran?" Kid asked in Shinichi's voice.

Ran paused a moment, before shaking off any blush she had. "That's not going to make me let you go."

"How about this, then?" Kid asked, stepping forward and producing a bouquet of red roses and white orchids. "I ran into the real Shinichi the other week, and he mentioned how he wanted to give you flowers in person. Even if you're the most beautiful orchid, I do hope you appreciate these."

_That_ apparently proved enough to briefly short circuit Ran's brain, as she took the bouquet in hand, quietly muttering Shinichi's name. Masumi wasn't about to let Kid get away, and charged to make up for Ran's distraction. Kid's smirk seemed far more fitting on Shinichi's face, and Masumi watched as the thief raised his card gun and shot one of the fire suppression nozzles on the ceiling. She briefly wondered what he hoped to achieve by drenching everyone, only to watch as billowing pink smoke descended.

She remembered then that the fire suppression system in the building was gas based, and Kid must have tampered with the system to create a smoke screen instead.

By the time the gas cleared, Kid and the crown were gone. There was a small note where the crown had been, and Masumi walked over, curious. The writing was written quickly, but read as a surprisingly genuine apology towards Ran for having gone too far.

Sonoko tried to insist that it was a sign that Kid was still a gentleman, though Aoko and Masumi were rather less impressed. Ran, for her part, was smiling away as Conan hastily concurred that Shinichi had been talking about wanting to send Ran flowers lately.

* * *

Kaito stared into the mirror, smiling at the reflection of Kaiko looking back, wearing an elegant ball gown and the Silver Memory tiara rounding out the look. Kaito had always been so tempted to wear the jewels that Kid had stolen, but knew most of them were meant to be worn by women. Once or twice, Kaito had modeled as Aoko in front of the mirror, but the knowledge that the young magician could never see the real Aoko with those jewels had made the moments bittersweet.

Kaiko, however... this was as real as she could ever be. Though, the young magician felt a little sadness that Aoko wouldn't get to see her girlfriend looking so elegant.

Almost before realising it, Kaito had picked up Kaiko's phone to text Aoko, hoping for another date.

Kaito jumped and almost dropped the phone when it vibrated. The screen popped on to inform that it was a text from Aoko. Opening it, Kaito's heart warmed while reading Aoko's simple summary of the heist. Though it did hurt to read how much Aoko was complaining about Kid disguising as Ran. Hadn't the apology note been genuine enough?

Kaito typed a quick reply, saying that Aoko sounded tired and seemed like she deserved to go to bed, trying to change the subject. Aoko agreed she'd go to bed soon, but then... then she asked to have a date tomorrow, to cheer her up and Kaito's heart skipped a beat. The young magician typed 'yes' immediately, too giddy between the rush of a heist and how cute the girl in the mirror looked right now to remember the crisis looming over the relationship.

It was only after getting a time and place to meet up that Kaito remembered things had to end. That old need to push Aoko away really needed to return...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Transportation**

Kaito was exhausted in school again, having spent most of the night before (at the heist) looking up information on what being 'trans' actually meant. Considering Sera's agreement that it was an awkward thing, Kaito had wondered if it might actually work as the tool to push Aoko away from the young magician's ever growing feminine persona.

It had turned out to be a much more interesting subject that Kaito had first predicted, and Kaito's phone had been out, displaying articles and blogs all day, whenever the teacher wasn't looking. It was such an interesting new world to explore, and one that Kaito had never thought much about before (studying magic tricks and phantom thievery were somewhat all consuming).

* * *

Aoko was giddy as she waited for Kaiko. They were going to grab some curry, and then she would put forward the offer of bringing Kaiko along to meet up with Sera's other friends. Openly being with a girl around other people like that... it made her nervous and excited at the same time.

At least the girls from Beika were still just acquaintances. Having Kaiko meet her proper friends back in Ekoda was something that still made her too nervous.

Plus, that would get confusing, having Kaiko, Kaito, and Keiko all together. Why so many important people in her life had such similar names, she couldn't begin to guess.

"Sorry I'm late," Kaiko's voice called out.

Her breathy voice sent a pleasant tingle down Aoko's spine. It made Kaiko seem somehow fragile, and set off Aoko's urge to protect her, even though the other girl was not insignificantly taller than Aoko was.

"Tokyo public transit after school is always chaos. Aoko was late too," Aoko said as she turned to her girlfriend with a smile.

"Well, it's good to hear you weren't waiting too long," Kaiko replied. "Looks like a nice little restaurant."

Kaiko leaned over, reading the menu on display, and smiled. "Decent prices too. Won't burn through my whole allowance."

"Aoko doesn't get too much for an allowance either, so cheap is probably best."

The pair headed in, Aoko ordering a hamburger curry while Kaiko ordered a cheese and squid one. The pair got chatting, Kaiko blaming her tiredness on staying up late to study for a chemistry test. The pair the started talking about school in general for a bit, though Kaiko was a bit mysterious about many things. Aoko supposed it just meant she was nervous, Kaiko continuing to be a confusing mixture of confidence and shyness.

Glancing over at a clock and seeing the time, Aoko realised she needed to bring up the plans for part two of the meet up, and awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Aoko was wondering... would you like to go meet up with Masumi-kun and her friends after this?"

Kaiko blinked, briefly looking like a deer in the headlights. "Pardon?"

"Ah, well, Aoko... er, I'm still getting used to this whole 'dating a girl' thing. When it's just the two of us, I feel very comfortable, but I... I eventually want to be able to introduce you to daddy and my friends, and... well, Masumi-kun and her friends are still sort of strangers, so it feels easier to get used to things around them first? I think? Does that make sense?" Aoko asked, worrying she was rambling incoherently.

"Oh, uh... I guess it does?" Kaiko offered.

"For some reason, Masumi-kun was also very enthusiastic about bringing you along for a 'all girls' event... do you not get to go to those much?" Aoko asked, wondering what Kaiko had told Sera and not her. She hoped it was nothing to worry too much about, but people around her keeping secrets got stressful.

To her surprise, Kaiko coughed and sputtered, taking a few moments to compose herself.

"N-no, I... Uh... I'm not sure how to explain this..." Kaiko mumbled, growing visibly lost in thought for a few moments. "I guess the best way to say it is just to say it? I'm er... I'm trans?"

Aoko blinked. The term was familiar, but... she was blanking for the moment.

"Transgender?" Kaiko added.

"Oh!" Aoko replied. Now she could place it. Only... "If you don't want to be a girl, then we shouldn't be dating, should we?"

It was Kaiko's turn to blink again. "Now _I'm_ confused."

"Well, if you're a girl now, but you want to be a boy, then isn't dating a girl who likes girls an odd choice?" Aoko asked, beginning to worry she was misunderstanding how all this worked.

"Aah! No-no! I'm not a girl who wants to be a boy! I'm a boy who wants to be a girl!" Kaiko blurted, before turning bright red and dropping her gaze to study the empty plate of curry in front of her.

For a moment Aoko swore she saw steam shooting out of Kaiko's ears. She found herself quietly studying Kaiko, hunting and failing to find any signs of masculinity. It took her a moment to realise Kaiko's voice had dropped on the final sentence. It had also felt strangely familiar, though Aoko was too caught up in the moment for trying to figure out who she was reminded of.

Still too confused to come up with a reply, Aoko found herself noticing folks at other tables looking their way. Many of the nosy patrons wore judgmental looks, and Aoko shot the best stink eye she could back at them. She might not quite understand what was going on, but Kaiko was kind and made her happy, and she didn't like seeing anyone giving looks like that towards Kaiko.

Finally, Kaiko looked back up at Aoko, guilt filling those normally sparkling blue eyes.

"I..." Kaiko began, before losing steam.

"If you say you want to be a girl, then Aoko will treat you like a girl. Anyone as kind and gentle as you is someone I will trust," Aoko said, mustering up determination.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Kaiko, just that she wasn't quite sure she understood everything. Along with not being sure she knew what and how to ask.

"B-but... I've been lying to you," Kaiko whispered.

"Masumi-kun seems to know more about all this than Aoko does, and she approves of you, so... Aoko thinks you weren't lying. Besides... it means you grew up thinking you'd date girls, right?" Aoko asked.

"I guess?" Kaiko replied, looking a bit confused.

"So you're used to the idea of dating a girl, but not being one. Meanwhile, Aoko is used to being a girl, but new to the idea of dating one. That seems like a good situation to help each other to me," Aoko said, her mustered confidence turning real.

Kaiko still seemed about as frazzled as Aoko felt, but nodded.

Feeling her cheeks go hot, there was one thing Aoko couldn't shake from her mind, and so had to lean in to ask. "Um... I did always think that newhalf type girls always liked boys though? That that was part of the whole thing?"

"I... er, I kind of thought the same until stumbling into doing research," Kaiko muttered, back to studying her curry plate.

"Well, Aoko is glad, because you have been a very delightful girlfriend so far," Aoko said with a nod. "So good at makeup too. Aoko is a little jealous."

"Ah, my, er... my mother is very good with makeup, and I loved to watch her, growing up? So I picked things up that way?" Kaiko replied.

Aoko nodded. "I only have my dad. He's definitely not much help. Tries though, and I appreciate it. Bought Aoko a bunch of foundation... but it was totally the wrong shade."

Kaiko giggled a little, a smile gracing her face again at last, and making Aoko's heart flutter. She might be confused, but that she could hold on to.

A part of her wondered if this was cheating, to have her first girlfriend be born a guy, but... well, she hadn't known when they'd started, so that had to count for something? Or, maybe it wasn't cheating at all?

She was going to ask Masumi about all that later. Kaiko seemed much too fragile to spring all that one right now. Assuming it was ever proper to bring up.

"I, um... I guess I would kind of like to go meet up with Masumi and her friends?" Kaiko offered weakly. "Because... yeah. I've not hung out in an all girl environment properly."

Aoko nodded, starting to stand up, when she noticed how Kaiko was still blushing. "If it's too much for one day, we can try another time?"

"No, no. I'm alright to go," Kaiko replied. "And, uh... thank you. For being so understanding."

"Aoko's not sure if 'understanding' is quite the right word. There's a lot I still don't understand, but... I will try," Aoko said, trying to give the most reassuring smile she could.

"Well, thank you for that at least," Kaiko replied, getting up herself.

As the pair headed out the door and to the nearest train station, Aoko couldn't help wondering why Kaiko still looked so lost in thought.

* * *

Kaito barely registered the short train ride over to Beika. The familiar sight of Tokyo zipping past was nothing next to the weird feeling bubbling in the young thief's stomach. That outbursts, the declaration of 'being a boy who wanted to be a girl', hadn't felt like it was about being in character. When it had happened, it had come from Kaito's heart.

The young thief was completely lost in what it could mean. Well, not completely lost, but the obvious answer was intimidating.

When they finally arrived at their stop, Kaito decided to swallow the dilemma for now. It was poker face time, as there was a part to play. Kaito was a professional, after all.

"Sorry we're a little late," Aoko said, having phoned one of the girls while Kaito was zoned out. "We're at the Haido City Mall now though... where are you guys?"

Kaito couldn't quite make out the reply, but Aoko nodded cheerfully and gave a thank you. The pair then set off to the nearest map, finding the 'you are here' marker after a few moments, before Aoko hunted down a specific second location. Kaito followed along quietly, wondering what the plan was.

It turned out to be the food court that they were meeting up at, the Beika girls just finishing up their assorted meals. Both Ran and Sera had impressive amounts of food, but Kaito supposed that made sense with them being active martial artists. Thankfully, Conan was nowhere to be seen, allowing Kaito to relax a bit. There was no way that Kaito could handle the pint-size detective right now, regardless of how innocent Kaito might be in this circumstance.

"Ah, so you're Kirino-chan?" Ran asked, her innocent smile not to far from the one Aoko often wore, and nearly as dangerous to Kaito's heart beat.

"Yep, that's me," Kaito replied, trying to play natural.

"I thought she'd be more butch," Sonoko said, giving Kaito a once over.

"Oy. Not every lesbian couple is a femme-butch duo," Sera muttered.

The verbal reprimand was accompanied by a glare from Ran that caused Sonoko to shrink a little.

"Sorry, sorry," Sonoko said. "I see why Nakamori and Sera both said you're cute though."

Kaito felt a bit awkward about the compliment, in part because they were due to a mask and not Kaito's actual face... a realisation that made Kaito feel rather odd. Feminine, even? Still, confidence had always been one of the young thief's strong points, so maybe it was just that?

Introductions followed, Kaiko 'learning' the names of the Beika girls. That was an amusing event from Kaito's side. Then they drifted off to wander the mall. Kaito soon felt distracted from thoughts and confusion by the fun of hanging out with the other girls: goofing about in the photobooth, trying to help Sonoko with explaining makeup to Sera, browsing a few clothing stores (Sonoko bought some things, but the rest of them lacked the budget), and being a bit confused when Ran and Sera dragged the rest of them to a martial arts supply store.

It was only as the five of them parted ways, and Kaito hopped on a quiet train with Aoko, that how natural it had all felt really clicked.

"That was nice," Aoko said, as their train sped across Toshima ward. "Aoko supposes, there was a touch of awkwardness, but that's just what comes with being the only couple present, right? If Mouri-chan or Suzuki-chan had brought their boyfriends then that awkwardness wouldn't have been there... I mean, not that it was about you being at an all girls gathering or anything! If Sera had a girlfriend and brought her, that would have the same affect!"

Kaito blinked, taking a moment to register what it was that Aoko was worried about. "I didn't think it was about adding guys."

Aoko nodded nervously. "Still, sorry. Aoko is trying to just think of Kaiko as Kaiko and a girl, but knowing things are complicated..."

"I do wish things were a bit less complicated," Kaito added, mind on things that Aoko was oblivious to.

There was a bit more of a pause, Aoko looking nervous during it.

"Sorry I'm not talking more," Kaito said, eyes looking at the city zip by outside the train. "I guess I'm more zonked from staying up last night than I expected."

"Well, sleep better tonight, okay?" Aoko said, her eyes deathly serious.

"Will do," Kaito replied with a salute and a smile.

Before anything else could be said, the announcement for Nerima's Ekoda Station rang out.

"Ah! This is Aoko's stop, um..." she muttered, before turning bright red. With a whisper, she added: "Aoko wishes she could kiss you on the cheek right now."

"Why can't you?" Kaito whispered back.

"That sort of public thing is scandalous enough with a boy and a girl. With two girls... Aoko's not sure how people would react," Aoko replied.

"Oh... right. I guess that's the sort of thing that's more obvious to you?" Kaito said, having completely missed that context.

Aoko grabbed Kaito's hand for a moment, smiling, before the train came to a stop and she had to hurry out.

Kaito stayed on the train an extra stop, before sneaking off to a washroom to change from Kaiko mode back to normal every day Kaito. The transformation left the young magician a little annoyed, staring for a moment at the boy in the mirror. Was Kaito just growing to like that face made for Kaiko, or... was it that dressing as a guy again was starting to feel like it might be a disguise?

Confused, Kaito headed home. Stopping by the convenience store on the way home, Kaito grabbed a few chocolates and an energy drink. There was need for one last push of energy before sleeping for the night, and going straight to bed felt far too tempting right now.

Getting home, and tossing shoes off, Kaito hurried to the computer. Chugging the energy drink, it was time to hunt for a chat group of some sort on trans issues. Kaito had questions that needed answering...

After a bit of browsing, one option stuck out for reasons Kaito couldn't quite place. Chalking it up to Kuroba family luck, Kaito signed up, looking up some instructions on where to do introductions. Then, nervously, Kaito typed in a message.

_Cheerful Phantom:_ _Hello. I'm new to all this, but... after a series of misunderstandings, I've stumbled into a situation that has me thinking about gender, and... do you have any advice for figuring out if I might be trans or just caught up in researching it?_

Kaito let out a breath after writing that. It was an awkward first step, but felt good to get out.

_Sappy Girl:_ _Hi there, __ Cheerful Phantom_ _and welcome to the group. For your question... getting caught up in researching these matters is often a sign all on it's own._

_Cheerful Phantom:_ _Thanks for the welcome. Are there any other signs? I'm, uh... kind of trying to get a quick answer._

_PlumHana:_ _Quick answers are hard. Media can be a good thing to check. To see how you related to characters. If some really stick out to you, and you feel a bond to trans or coded characters, that would be another sign._

Kaito nodded at that. It made sense.

_Cheerful Phantom:_ _Any specific shows you'd recommend?_

_Miss Yuki:_ _Wandering Son is the classic._

_Plum Hana:_ _Wandering Son only shows if you have a heart. It's good, but it doesn't have the ambiguity needed. I'd say something sillier, like Ranma 1/2, Stop! Hibari-Kun!, or... maybe They Were Eleven!._

_Sappy Girl:_ _Those are all at least a little Showa. It's the Reiwa era! Try something more modern, like Zombie Land Saga._

_Plum Hana:_ _No respect for the classics. _

_Tiger Boy:_ _I'd say looking at your childhood is a good place. Look for times you envied girls. Wanting to... learn makeup and stuff? Gender and interests aren't the same thing, but they tend to correlate. (The gals can probably give more relevant examples for you.)_

_Miss Yuki:_ _Yeah! Being interested in girls' fashion, while not caring about your own clothing, that's one. Maybe feeling a desire to push others away as puberty hit? Not because of them, but just... feeling like you're drifting away from guys?_

Kaito stared at that for a while. Retreating away from Aoko had, honestly, started in Middle School, with the teasing from classmates, the Kid stuff had just made it worse. Accusations of being gay back then... those had bothered Kaito. It had felt wrong, and that had bothered Kaito far more than the intended insulting nature. Kaito liked attention from guys while disguised as a girl on heists, but... it was a firm 'look, don't touch' feeling.

Maybe, what was really fun about it, was the affirmation of looking cute in disguise. Girl disguises had always felt more fun, despite the added effort of padding they required over most male options.

Watching as more ideas popped up on the screen, more and more things mentioned felt relatable. It felt like an avalanche of unnoticed truths. Maybe it was exhaustion leading to Kaito wanting the easy answer right now, but it was looking pretty hard to argue against right now.

_Cheerful Phantom:_ _I have to admit... I didn't think the answer would hit me this hard and fast, but... I guess I'm not just academically curious._

_This just leaves two questions: am I allowed to say I'm a girl, and... am I allowed to say I'm a lesbian?_

_Miss Yuki:_ _Welcome to the club then! You can indeed call yourself both of those, if that's what you think fits. We don't have the most lesbians here, but, if your English is any good, we've got some sister channels with plenty._

_Cheerful Phantom:_ _I'll look into it._

Kaito took a breath, leaning back. It was all feeling so obvious now.

At least it meant she was only half lying to Aoko. She was, technically, a girlfriend. Kaito just had to figure out how to confess the truth without Aoko hating her.

Kaito (she was going to need a new name... and a real name, not 'Kaiko') grabbed her phone, and popped over to Masumi's number. After a moment's hesitation, she hit the text button, and typed in her message: "_I have something serious to talk about. Can we meet up tomorrow?_"

Unable to wait, Kaito grabbed a chocolate bar and began to pace as she ate it. Some small corner of her subconscious declared that, as a girl now, she should stop eating so many sweets and pay attention to her waistline.

That led to a laughing fit, Kaito doubled over and barely noticing as her phone vibrated. Nothing would make her give up chocolate and sugar.

Walking over to the phone, she was glad to see Masumi was free, and the pair quickly arranged a time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Transgression**

Akako sipped her small vial of awakening potion as she watched her cauldron bubble. Somehow finding Aoko a girlfriend had not served to free Kaito for her own access. Perhaps it was jealousy that had led to Kaito watching Aoko so much more, but... either way it was frustrating. Couldn't he accept defeat?

Shaking her head, she tossed the koi scales into the bubbling concoction before her. Kaito was going to be hers soon either way. Maybe having to use magic was a little annoying, but it would be her magic and therefore still her victory... unlike the love charm her mother had placed on her that made normal men too easy, so as to not be worth caring for the love of.

"Spirits," Akako said, turning to the magic mirror she'd had recently installed in her potion room. "Show me his face. I want to see the face of the one man who can resist me."

The silver of the mirror twitched a moment, static shuddering across it, before it returned to normal.

"There is no man who can resist you," the disembodied voice of the mirror replied.

Akako's eye twitched. "What do you mean by that? Has something happened to Kuroba?"

"Kuroba?" the mirror asked, it's tone clearly meant to feign ignorance. Akako narrowed her eyes. "Oh! Kuroba Kaito, you classmate? The one known as Kaitou Kid?"

Akako nodded. Slowly.

"Kuroba-chan is happily asleep right now. It is sweet of you to care for your classmate though," the mirror replied.

"Has he lost his immunity to the love charm?" Akako asked, her stress levels rising.

"Kuroba Kaito is not part of the demographic targeted by the charm," the mirror replied.

Akako shot a small bolt of electricity into the wall beside the mirror, deciding she'd had enough of this evasiveness. "Explain what's going on. From the top. _Now_."

The glass of the mirror shifted, revealing a coy looking minor demon. "Er, well... the Kuroba family are famously hard to read. Kuroba Touichi's heart was hidden from even the lords of the deepest hells... so, we didn't pick up on the secret that Kuroba Kaito had so buried that even she was unaware of it, but... it turns out Kaito is not the one man immune to your magic, but, rather, actually female."

Akako's eye twitched again, as she struggled against the desire to throw something that would shatter the scrying mirror (it had been rather expensive after all).

"You blistering incompetents!" she shouted. "All that effort and intrigue to try to gain a unique prize, and Kaito was a girl the whole time!?"

"Sorry?" the spirit in the mirror offered.

Akako flopped back into a nearby chair, letting out a groan from the depths of her heart.

* * *

Getting dressed for school felt weird, for Kaito. It seemed familiar, and easy, and... made last night's epiphany seem like it may have been a moment of over enthusiasm.

Kaito stayed quiet and a little out of it during the morning classes, having an internal crisis of faith and identity.

"Up," Akako whispered in Kaito's ears shortly after lunch began.

Kaito's body obeyed before the young magician could process, and followed Akako out of the class. It didn't take long for Kaito to regain control, but curiosity, and this providing a distraction from the current dilemma, prompted Kaito to follow her anyhow. The pair reached a quiet stairwell a short while later.

"I wish to apologise," Akako said, seeming like it was painful for her to say. "Some of my underlings made a mistake about you, Kuroba, and that drew me in to make your life difficult."

"Pardon?" Kaito asked.

"I've banished a couple of them to the depths of a frozen hell as punishment... while I might not have been taught to value the lives of others as much as most, I do feel a bit bad having harassed you for incorrect reasons. Even if I am disappointed that there are no actual men challenging enough to win the affections to be interesting," the witch muttered, leaning against the wall.

"Wait, you... I... were you spying on me?" Kaito asked, feeling defensive and paranoid.

"Not actively," Akako replied. "I have better things to do with my time than watching you constantly. Especially now that I know you're a girl underneath everything."

Kaito's heart fluttered and the declaration of her femininity. Akako had said it so matter-of-factly too. That giddy feeling from the night before washed over her again... what had they called it online? Gender euphoria? She was pretty sure that was the term, and it certainly felt apt.

"Okay, that's not your usually smug grin... what does it mean?" Akako asked, seeming a little uncomfortable.

"I-just... you called me... I almost want to hug you, even with the whole 'attempted murders' thing between us," Kaito replied, feeling a giddy energy in her. "I... don't tell Aoko yet though, okay? Things are-they're-well, it's complicated, but I'm going to handle that myself. Okay?"

"Your love life is no longer of any interest to me," Akako replied flatly, keeping her distance.

Kaito nodded, before turning to head back to class. She wanted to skip... like she was about to go as girly as Aoko or something. It must have been some sort of subconscious desire to make up for lost time. She resisted though. Attracting attention so early wasn't the best plan. Especially not before telling Aoko.

How Kaito was going to tell Aoko still remained a total mystery, but that was what talking to Sera was hopefully going to help with. An outside perspective might be able to figure out some sort of a way out of this mess of lies turned to truths...

* * *

After an awkward day of trying to talk to Aoko during class without letting the truth slip, Kaito was finally free. She hurried home, to grab some feminine clothing and a little makeup to apply once away from Ekoda and the risk of running into classmates, though she purposefully left her 'Kaiko' mask behind. It was a quick jog from her house back around to Ekoda station, where she grabbed a train back once more to Haido.

She managed to reach the mall again ahead of schedule, which gave her the opportunity to dither with uncertainty for a moment. She knew she looked fine as a girl. She'd disguised as a girl without a mask before on more than one occasion after all. Yet... she felt more self conscious this time. It actually mattered to her...

Shaking her head, Kaito slipped into a clothing store, found a changing stall, and worked on fixing her look. The high waisted red dress did a good job of covering for her lack of hips, and a padded bra did the rest of the work her figure needed. She tossed on a short dark bob of a wig, quickly applied some makeup, and gave herself a once over in the mirror. She looked good.

With that done, she headed back out.

Heading towards the food court (it did seem the best place in Haido City Mall to meet up), Kaito pulled out her 'Kaiko' phone and checked that it was nearly time. She scrolled to Sera's number (which didn't take long, the phone having all of 2 contacts in it's address book) and dialed. It took only a couple rings to get an answer.

"Hey, I'm almost there," Sera said.

"Good to hear... I'll keep my eyes peeled for you then. You, uh, you probably won't recognise me right now, afterall," Kaito replied, keeping up the more feminine version of her own voice that she'd used for 'Kaiko'.

"Oh? Are you... are you stuck dressing like a guy?" Sera asked. "Since it's right after school and all that?"

Kaito spotted the fanged detective on the edge of the food court and started walking over.

"No, no. I had time to change, but... my mum does special effects stuff," Kaito explained (not technically lying). "She's taught me how to do prosthetics and stuff. I've, uh... I've kind of been wearing some when I went out as Kaiko. I've decided to try not doing that now."

Internally she hoped against hope that the clues wouldn't let Sera work out she was _also_ Kaitou Kid, but she decided the risk of suspicion was worth getting advice on her current relationship disaster. After all, Hakuba suspected her, but had never found proof. Surely a few hints wouldn't be enough to have Sera handcuff her and call the MPD. Or beat her up...

"Prosthetics? I... that's some heavy duty stuff. I'm glad you're feeling confident enough to try going out without them," Sera said, surprise audible in her voice.

"It's not really about confidence, it's... complicated," Kaito said, now in range that Sera could hear her in person.

The short haired girl spun around to see Kaito, and stared in confusion for a second.

"Kaiko?" she whispered after a moment.

"Well, I'm debating a different name, but... yes," Kaito replied.

A blush spread on Sera's cheeks. "You're... you're really cute."

Again, Kaito felt her heart flutter at being called cute. Still, she couldn't dwell on that too long. She had to fess up to the situation.

"Why were you wearing those prosthetics then?" Sera asked, as if to ensure Kaito didn't let herself wiggle out of confessing.

"It's a mess of a story, and... what I need your help with. Assuming you don't hate me when I finish explaining," Kaito replied.

* * *

Sera rubbed her temples as she processed everything Kaito had said. She supposed the opening part about Kaito having just been there to watch things unfold fit well enough with how Kaito had behaved until Sera decided she needed to 'help out'. Kaito had talked about not wanting another date after the first date too.

She knew she always felt a little disappointed when a cute girl closed away after realising she was a girl herself, and could only imagine Kaito in the reverse situation having her crush be the one mistakenly flirting. Or, not mistakenly flirting, going off Kaito's apparent recent revelation.

"You're sure you're not mixing up romantic desires to please Aoko with your actual identity?" she asked, trying not to let the cuteness of Kaito's nervous eyes distract her.

Kaito nodded. "There's plenty of signs going back. Honestly, I feel embarrassed about not clueing in before now... could have avoided this whole mess if I'd realised I was a girl _before_ ending up Aoko's girlfriend."

Sera let out a sigh. She didn't like being trapped up in webs of lies... why did her life have to keep being so complicated? It was so much easier to take lies apart to catch a criminal than to try to navigate out from inside them.

A blunt confession seemed risky. Maintaining the lie until it fell apart seemed worse, but bought time. Faking 'Kaiko's' death or forcing a break up and then having Kaito zip in with a confession of transness and asking Aoko out floated in her head for a few seconds and left Sera feeling disappointed in herself for even having the thought.

"Oh, Sera!" a voice called out.

Ran's voice.

Sera felt her heart skip a beat, and she saw Kaito pale. Turning, Sera saw Ran with a bag from the martial arts store yesterday. She vaguely remembered Ran having not been sure which size to buy for the sparring gloves. She guessed that Ran had chosen the wrong size.

Sera's heart skipped again when she realised Conan was following along beside Ran. She wasn't sure what he'd think of everything, but suspected he'd not be the most understanding. He got a little harsh sometimes.

"Is everything okay?" Ran said, having come closer while Sera's mind tried to recalibrate to the situation.

"Reasonably?" Sera offered, as Kaito studied the table carefully.

"Is it anything I can help with?" Ran asked.

The girl wasn't a detective, but she was dangerously good at empathy sometimes. Sera glanced over to Kaito.

"Should we tell her?" Sera asked.

"Well, I guess if you don't know what to do either, then maybe we can brainstorm as a group. It's good practice for the unpleasantness of the actual confession too," Kaito muttered.

Sera nodded, before turning to Ran and gesturing to the seat beside her. Ran took the seat, while Conan hopped himself in place across from her, and beside Kaito. He didn't look very interested, however. Sera hoped he continued not to pay too much attention, and that she could cover up the evidence for a theory bubbling in her mind about Kaito.

"You see... Kaiko's mother works in theatre or movies or that sort of thing, and taught her about effects makeup. Kaiko had been using that to disguise her face up until now," Sera explained, gesturing over to the girl in question.

"Using... that's you, Kaiko?" Ran said, leaning over to Kaito.

Kaito nodded, though kept her eyes down. (Sera wasn't surprised about that. Her real face would be familiar to Ran and would just cause more questions.)

Conan eyed her suspiciously, though, even with his low angle giving him a good view of Kaito's face he didn't seem to notice who she looked like.

"I... I kind of know Aoko," Kaito said, keeping her voice soft. "She's probably my best friend, and has been for years."

"She was at the cafe to be nosey, wanted to see what sort of girl her best friend would like. So she was wearing stage makeup to avoid being recognised. Then I went and 'helped out' by setting her up with Nakamori," Sera added.

Ran nodded slowly. "That's... that's complicated. I'm curious, though, if you liked her, and you know she likes girls, then... why didn't you ask her out as yourself before all this?"

"Uhhh... well..." Kaito muttered, twiddling her thumbs. "She thinks I'm a guy, and... until this whole thing started rolling, I had no reason to doubt the idea either. It was only spending time acting and being treated like a girl that made me clue in to how much I like it."

That got a strange look from Conan, who gave Kaito a once over. Ran, for her part, seemed confused, but was weighing it thoughtfully. Conan gave Sera a confused look, which she replied to with a casual shrug. It was her fault if he didn't understand these things yet.

"So, you're trying to figure out how to confess who you really are?" Ran asked, at last.

"Or if I should try something else. Keep building her trust as her girlfriend, maybe? Or... I don't know?" Kaito offered.

"You have to confess," Ran said firmly. "If you were a classmate she didn't talk to much, or... something like that, then I could see you relying on gaining her trust at all as her girlfriend and you could confess later, but as her best friend? You'd be playing the role of two of the most important people in her life. That's twice the sense of betrayal with the truth comes out, and twice the loss of people to turn to for emotional support. The longer you hurt the worse it will be on her. You're not protecting her from pain, and, if she starts to figure it out on her own, imagine the self doubt and second guessing she'll go through!"

Ran paused, realising her volume had gone well above normal conversational levels, and shrunk back into her seat.

"That's-that's just my opinion," Ran whispered. "Truth is the best path."

Kaito nodded slowly, while Conan sat looking like a deer in the headlights. If she hadn't been so caught up in the mess around Kaito, and partially responsible, Sera probably would have laughed about Conan's face.

"I'll... I'll call her," Kaito muttered, pulling out a phone.

"It'll be tough, but it's the right thing to do," Ran said, her voice soft now.

Kaito fiddled a bit to make a call. She waited a bit with the phone to her ear for a few moments, before Aoko answered. Sera could only hear half the conversation, but enough to hear Kaito ask to meet up with Aoko that evening, and got a positive reply. Kaito's body language grew rather tense as the conversation continued, and she didn't release when she hung up.

"If it doesn't go well... Sera and I are here for you," Ran said.

"Th-thank you. I'm not sure I deserve it, but... thank you," Kaito said, looking up at last and offering Ran a smile.

"I definitely owe you that, at least, since I'm half responsible for the mess you're in," Sera replied, trying her best to smile.

She did not envy Kaito right now.

* * *

Kaito swallowed nervously, standing near the gazebo in the small park she'd agreed to meet Aoko in. She was wearing the 'Kaiko' mask again, to make the meet up and confession smoother. Or, at least, she thought it might help. She really wasn't sure what she was doing.

She always lost so much of her confidence where Aoko was involved, and it drove her crazy.

"Ah! Kaiko! There you are!" Aoko's voice called out, the other girl arriving a minute or two before the scheduled time.

"Hello Aoko," Kaito said, turning to her with a forced smile.

"Is everything okay? It's not that I don't like meeting up with you, but you sounded like you needed to talk right away on the phone," Aoko replied.

Kaito swallowed again. "I... I have something I need to confess."

"Something else?" Aoko asked. There was concern in her eyes, but he didn't think it was judgment just yet.

"Yes. Something major. It's... well, I'll start by showing you my phone," Kaito said, handing the cheap little thing over to Aoko, unlocking it as she did so.

Aoko took the phone, confusion in her eyes as she looked at how devoid it was of any apps (beyond those that came with the phone).

"Check the contacts," Kaito said.

Aoko nodded and did so.

"There's only two... is it a separate phone you have? Is... are you not 'out' to your parents and friends?" Aoko asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm about to come out to my best friend though," Kaito said, taking inspiration from what Aoko had asked.

"Oh! Aoko is happy to support you with that, if you need it?" Aoko replied, her smile so soft and sweet, making Kaito's heart skip a beat.

"Well, you... I... I'll just show you," Kaito said, grabbing the base of her mask and pulling it up and off her face.

Aoko stared at her, mouth slightly agape.

"Surprise?" Kaito offered, not sure what to say.

An emotion slowly slipped into Aoko's face. An emotion Kaito had hoped not to see: sadness.

"Is... is this some kind of a joke, Kaito? It's not... it's not funny!" she said, tears welling in her eyes. "Did you steal Kaiko's phone to do this?"

"What? No? Kaiko is me. It's been me the whole time," Kaito replied, her tone maybe sliding a little more defensive than she wanted.

"Don't lie about something like that!" Aoko all but shouted, her hands balling up into fists. "This is-this is too much for a joke."

"I didn't plan to lie to you. I was just curious... and, I guess feeling defensive. I've had a crush on you since we were kids and I... I think I wanted to go see if whoever I was losing you to felt good enough," Kaito said, her voice soft and weak. "I didn't mean to end up _being_ your date."

"It was really you? The whole time?" Aoko asked, sounding more dead inside than anything.

Kaito nodded, hoping that, maybe, Aoko would decide spreading the feelings she talked about having for Kaiko to her real identity was the logical next step.

"So... so you lied to me as Kaiko, and then lied to me as Kaito too... you must have thought you were so clever, when I was telling you about how wonderful my fake girlfriend was," Aoko muttered, slowly turning away from Kaito. "Aoko is just so fun to make fun of..."

"What? No. Aoko! I wasn't... I mean, I did lie, because I was an idiot and didn't know how to tell the truth without hurting you, but... the way I couldn't help smiling when I saw you smile, and the joy I felt being around you... that was all real," Kaito replied, trying to step forward, to reach out for Aoko.

Only she pulled away.

"Why should Aoko trust you now?" she asked, and Kaito lacked a clear response.

Kaito closed her eyes, there was one thing she could do, that would hopefully help convince Aoko. She hated humble bowing. Doing a bow at the end of a show was fun, but as self humiliation... she loathed that. So, Aoko would know she was serious if she bowed. Especially if she went all in.

Taking a deep breath, she dropped down to her knees, placing her hands on the ground before her, and bent into a full prostrating bow.

"Please accept my apology!" Kaito announced, hoping she was loud enough while facing the ground.

She received only silence. Nervously, she glanced up, only to find that Aoko wasn't there. Looking around, Kaito spotted Aoko walking away. With how slow Aoko was going and how far she was, she'd probably left while Kaito was talking herself into bowing. The gesture had been too late.

Emotions swelling, Kaito felt herself tearing up. She tried to fight it for a moment, to stay stoic, but... she realised she didn't have a good reason to hold back, simply slumping down again in the grass.

She messed up, and she was pretty sure she deserved this response.


End file.
